Clawing out of the previous year on the feet of my hands...
Starting the year (and 18+ days) with a sketch!
Wait! Don't those marsupial hoppers have three toes?!
Well, yes and no... but that's not the point.
With all the gloom and doom that happened out of last year (and yeah, there was a LOT ), it put me... in a mood...
DooM'ed!
Yeah, over 2025, a lot of my effort went into some very obscure modding to some very old 90's shooters. You can probably blame my enjoyment of Fallen Aces or discovering this wonderful tutorial series on Youtube that sparked a sudden desire to do some old-school rotating 2D sprite work.
The project is still very early and deeply in progress, but I'm happy to have launched (and patched) the first prototype, currently available to any patron that joins my Discord ^^
I'll keep at this project over 2026, but I want to think through how I want to continue, and maybe focus on more general art than just pixels.
With that mentioned and out of the way...
Art Retrospective
How did last year go as far as art? Here's a quick little bar graph of hand-wavy numbers.
In total, 2025 ended with:
3 commissions (All sequences too! Neat!)
2 animations! (1 animatic CTF rabbit >:B and 1 kobold sprite :} )
7-ish personal arts * (extra "-ish" because what's personal these days? :P )
27 finished "Ideas From a Hat" sketches for patrons!
84 sketches on Patreon!!
Definitely on pace with last year's metrics, less "Ideas" completed, but with more sketches shared and a LOT of work going into animations and various experiments.
Lessons Learned... (being a bit too real for a bit)
tl;dr bit of a bummer up ahead, you can skip to the next bold point if you want...
I'll be up-front with the worst of it: suddenly losing a close friend and later attending their funeral last year shook me to my core. I've known this person for many years, even longer than I've made art or shared it online. They shaped a lot of how I enjoy things, and I can't avoid addressing their loss, especially because they were such a continuous positive influence and encouraging force in my life. They didn't directly know a lot of my TF art endeavors, but they still encouraged and shared a lot of things that shaped where my art went over the years.
You really don't know how much someone means to you until you lose them in a way that's permanent.
The main reason I even mention this again is because I have at least one character that is modelled off this friend of mine (be careful where you take your inspirations), and that character will either need a complete revamp or be quietly put to rest. It's just painful to do otherwise. I already have thoughts. I'll figure it out when I get there...
hey, welcome to the next bold point... :)
And don't get me started on what I think about the A.I. slop that was my feed again!!!!
Oh, hey... uhh... where was I? Oh, right...
I'm still learning to relax and take breaks. I'll be taking more breaks for wellness, I think. I promise there will be some notice, and it's likely a month or so will go uncharged so I can take care of other important things. That's just something I'll need to do.
Expect me to continue to take breaks occasionally this year, including breaks from projects.
Official Updates and Plans!
This year is going to involve me breaking away from a lot of my 'traditions', mostly so I have time to do more things while detached from deadlines (good is better than rushed).
First, maybe a calendar:
I almost missed this post on time, but I'm glad I still got my retrospective out on the 18+ of January (in case you needed a reminder that this page is for 18+ only ;3)
This February 6th will be the last Mewtwo Birthday image I do in a row. Five in a row is "good enough", and it's a bit out of character of me to even care about Pokémon birthdays (haven't played the games in forever).
Yeah, I'll still do a FebRooary thing. Thinking of ApeRoo too, maybe. <3
May 1st is the 20th anniversary of my account showing up on FurAffinity (ouch, my bones!) I'm not even sure what I'm going to do for it. Just something I guess <_>
I will need to revamp or retire the character I vaguely mentioned. Summer is probably a good time for that. I may set up a poll around that.
I definitely hope to plan Halloween a little better this time, and not put it off to the end of October x.x
Same with XXX-mas
When am I finishing this DooM project thing...? I hope this year...
As for Patreon patrons. Here are some planned updates:
Ideator : "Ideas" are still one idea guaranteed for every two months. I've dialed back the number of folks allowed in this tier, I've already updated the rules for what I will and won't draw, and I think this is a workload I can handle.
Sketches : Staying strong with sketches and scraps! It's a mixed bag each month, as promised! I hope I finished some of them some day!
Process/WIP : I need to bring back polls. I still can't do them monthly, but I can start circulating sketches back into art polls this year. I intend to soon.
Supporters: No changes needed. Enjoy "Ideas Monthly!" and thanks for your support <3
Free tier: I never promise anything, but I appreciate you watching! Thanks!
Looking forward
The trail behind us has gone cold. A lot of people had a really bad time. It will take a long time to get over the sting of the events before. Looking ahead will be a lot around mending what was broken, and building new memories that are hopefully better than bad.
I know I need to start picking up new things again and take the time to enjoy them: new games, new shows to watch, new communities to try drawing art around. I still plan to keep it very weird, especially because weird is my favorite flavor.
For some reason, trying new stuff will partly include developing on top of a 30+ year old DOS game too, but I really am getting a kick out of pixel art for some reason X3
I hope I'll get to collaborate on more projects in 2026...
I'm extremely grateful to all of you for watching and supporting this kind of thing. Your encouragement and patronage keeps me going, even in the dark times. Even if I can't promise a timely sketch, I guarantee it'll be an odd sight... whatever it is.
Thank you all for keeping this madness kindled! <3
This is a public post, for patrons and watchers alike... thank you!